


Path of the Lighting Bolt

by GeneratorCat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Peter Pan! Eren, Wendy! Levi, all characters eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-19 06:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4736729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeneratorCat/pseuds/GeneratorCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi runs away from the place that is no longer home and Eren just wants to save everyone.</p><p>(on hiatus)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Levi met the boy, he nearly killed him. He’d snuck out onto the fire escape, sat with his legs dangling thirty feet in the air. It was cold, always cold, and his jacket was too thin. He wiggled his toes around in his too large boots. Better too big than too small. He’d grow into them, hopefully. Behind him, through the open window, the room was empty and somehow colder than the outside. 

A shadow crept up over him, and Levi knew by now to be ready. He slowly took out a knife and braced himself. The moment he felt a brush to his shoulder, Levi jumped up and threw himself at the person, taking them down, the knife poised over their throat. 

Except the person beneath him was not what he thought. Not a man, not a predator. Just a boy, about his own age but infinitely younger.

He eased back the pressure of the blade but kept it in place. 

“The fuck are you doing?”

The kid didn’t squirm or beg. In fact, he didn’t look scared at all, like any sensible person would, being pinned with a knife to the neck. He grinned and said, “I came for you.” 

And Levi changed his mind. This was a predator. He could see it in those eyes.

“For me, huh? And what you do want with me?”

“To take you away, like you want.”

Levi leaned back and really looked at the kid. He’s dirty, was the first thing Levi saw, but not in the same way everyone else was around here. In this part of the city, when people were dirty it meant disease. Grime and waste, mold, the worst of human filth. On this boy, dirty was just that: dirt. Earth. Mud and soil. And he was wearing leaves. A fucking suit made of leaves. There were leaves and twigs sticking out if his hair that very well may have been an actual bird’s nest.

“How would you know what I want?”

“I watch you,” the boy said, unashamed. “I heard you talking when you thought no one was around.”

Levi sat back on his heels, still straddling the boy. “What’s your name?”

“Eren.”

“Where would you take me, Eren?”

Eren pointed up at the sky. “Second to the right and straight on ‘til morning.”

“That’s a fucked up address. You high?”

“No,” Eren laughed. It sounded like wind chimes. 

Levi stood, not offering to help Eren off the concrete. Eren jumped up as if Levi helping was never a thought. 

“Levi,” Eren said heavily. “Have you seen my faerie?”

“...You must be high. Faeries aren’t-”

Eren lunged forward and clasped his hand over Levi’s mouth, which was still open and Levi could then taste all the dirt caked on his palm. He kicked out, which Eren dodged, but at least he moved away. 

“Fucking gross,” Levi spat. “Do that again and I’ll cut that fucking hand clean off.”

“And then shall I wear a hook?” Eren doubled over, laughing at his joke that Levi didn’t understand. Then he suddenly straightened, apparently having remembered his first question. He spun around, searching the stairs and nearby window sills. He whistled, three short blasts. “Don’t say that. That they aren’t… you know. She’ll die, and then I’ll never find her. Hey, Levi?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s a kiss?”

Levi almost wanted to laugh. “Why?”

“Armin said kisses make people feel better.”

“You want me to make you feel better?”

“No, I want to make you feel better,” Eren answered easily. “I told Armin you always looked mad and lonely and he said hugs and kisses help.”

Something in Levi tightened, grating ice against his insides and he very resolutely did not glance inside the window. “Well, thanks. But I don’t. I don’t need you to do that.”

Eren’s shoulders slumped. “Okay. But I still want to know what it is.”

Levi thought Eren would want to know what everything is. He could see need written all over the boy, in his open stance and twitching hands and over eager eyes. Need for adventure, for everything denied him. And Levi figured once he had something in mind, Eren didn’t give up until he got it. 

“Didn’t your mother ever kiss you goodnight?”

“Don’t have a mother,” Eren replied, swinging his arms with the breeze.

Levi thought he would never be so light about that.

“Fine.” 

Levi motioned with a flick of his fingers and Eren skipped over, grinning madly. Trying not to think about how this kid probably never washed his face, Levi leaned in. Just before he closed his eyes, he saw Eren, confused but excited, eyes wide. He noted Eren’s radiating warmth. Smelled dirt but also flowers and wind and all things green. Felt the gust of his breath, the slightest brush of his lips. And then pain. His eyes snapped open as Levi’s head was yanked away, something pulling his hair. 

Eren gasped, “Let him go!” He reached up, over Levi’s head and then the pulling was gone. Eren’s hands cupped around a little glowing ball. Levi heard a faint chiming, like tiny, tiny bells being rattled viciously. 

“No,” Eren admonished the ball of light. He listened to the bells and then laughed. Looking up, he told Levi, “She says if you try to kiss me again, she’ll kill you.” 

“The fuck are you talking to,” Levi asked as he flattened his hair back into place.

“Oh, sorry.” Eren raised his hands closer to Levi. With pride, he opened them and said, “This is my faerie.” 

Cautiously, Levi peered at the… little person standing on Eren’s palm. A girl with black hair and a murderous expression stared back at him. She wore a dress of leaves similar to Eren’s with a red scarf. 

“Hello.”

The girl placed one hand on her cocked hip and raised the other up, middle finger extended. 

“Well fuck you too, bitch,” Levi responded because his manners only went so far. 

Eren waved the faerie away and stepped closer. He reached out carefully, fingers outstretched. 

“Come away with me, Levi.”

Levi finally peered in the window at the woman laying on the floor of the tiny apartment. She didn’t look like a person anymore, Levi thought. Discolored. Utterly still. 

He turned back to Eren, who stared at him with frightening intensity, green eyes bright in a way that put Levi on edge. Or rather, he knew he should be on edge. Logically, he should run the fuck away from eyes like those. And Levi thought, just for a moment, about crawling back inside, even with what he would be met with. 

But then Eren smiled, wicked and promising. Smiled like the first beams of sun breaking through the clouds. Teasing hope. 

Levi closed the window. He turned around and regarded the hand held out for him.

“Will you wash that first?”

Eren’s face lit up, victorious, and then literally as the girl of light flew around his head. She landed on his shoulder. 

“Mikasa,” Eren said, giddy as a child who’s just found a massive chocolate cake. “Levi’s coming back with us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I don't have a firm plan for this, but I have high hopes. It started out as a little drabble I wrote in five minutes but it just wouldn't leave my head. Please let me know what you think, I'm always open to constructive criticism. Thanks for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2

Eren bounced on the balls of his feet, which were more dirtied and calloused than Levi thought possible. It looked like the boy had never worn shoes in his life.

“So how are we getting to… wherever we’re going,” Levi asked, shuffling in his boots. They were just clunky enough to make walking long distances a strain.

“Neverland,” he told him. “And we’re flying.”

Levi slapped Eren’s cheek.

Eren drew in a sharp breath, gingerly touching the reddened spot. “What the hell was that?”

“To make sure I’m not dreaming.”

Eren yelled, “Then shouldn’t you have hit yourself?”

“I’m not going to slap myself,” Levi said frankly because, “I’d look like an idiot.”

In an instant, Eren went from scowling to laughing. It was, literally, musical. He heard notes, an undercurrent of flute song and he felt the vibrations sway his hair and tickle his skin faintly.

“Good thing you find it funny. So how do you think we can fly?”

“Happy thoughts.” Eren winked.

Levi stared.

“And faerie dust,” Eren added. “Mikasa?”

The faerie flew above Eren, sprinkling a luminescent powder upon him. Levi watched in amazement as the boy lifted up, floating a few feet above levi. Eren flipped upside down, hanging with their heads level.

“Your turn. Just think about happy things. Thoughts that will lift you into the air.”

Levi thought this boy had poor timing. He felt the cold air biting his neck, felt the darkness of the room behind him.

“I… I don’t have happy thoughts. Not enough, anyway.” Not today.

“You do. You just don’t know them yet.”

“Well how does that help me right now?”

“I know,” Eren exclaimed as he rolled back around, feet still just inches from the balcony floor. “I’ll tell you about Neverland!”

“Okay, but. Could you get me away from here? At least for right now.”

“Of course.”

The fact that Eren didn’t pause to wonder told Levi that the boy already knew why. He knew what had happened, and maybe that was why he’d shown himself tonight. It made him realise that Eren was aware, as much as he acted like an unaffected child, of pain and loss, and he’d meant it when he said he wanted to take Levi away, only because Levi wanted him to. Because Levi needed him to.

Eren picked him up, one arm under his knees, the other bracing his back, and flew up, away from the closed window. Eren took him high over the tops of the buildings, over the park and Levi reached down to pluck a leaf from the tallest tree. He tucked it under a piece of rope that ran over Eren’s chest and tightened his grip around his neck, listening as Eren described Neverland. Mikasa followed, sometimes speeding away, then hovering next to Eren’s ear.

“It’s warm,” Eren stated. “At least, when I’m there.”

Levi didn’t consider what that meant, distracted as he was by the view. Eren kept on and Levi listened halfheartedly, watching the town fly past. From this height, in this context, Levi thought for the first time there was some beauty hidden in this city.

“There’s mermaids, Indians, pirates, faeries, but don’t worry, the other faeries are usually nicer than Mikasa. And there’s the lost boys! Although I should think of a different term now because-”

Levi closed his eyes, soaking in the words, the wetness of the fog that may have been clouds they were flying so high. He liked listening to Eren. He spoke with zeal, passion. Levi had never felt about anything as Eren did about apparently everything. He was enumerating the various fruits found in Neverland as if this was exceptional information.

Eventually Eren paused, looking at Levi. He pouted. “It didn’t work.”

“Yes, it did,” Levi answered, opening his eyes. “I’m happy.”

“...You don’t look it. You’re not even smiling,” Eren reasoned.

“Am too.”

Eren leaned in close, examining Levi’s face.

“Are you sure?”

“Do you want to get slapped again? This is me smiling, Eren.”

“In that case,” Eren grinned and released Levi’s legs, still keeping his other arm tight around his back. He held his hand up in front of Levi’s face and blew gently, glowing power drifting up and over. It tingled as it landed on Levi, pleasantly warm and smelling of… pineapple and vanilla, Levi decided, delighted. He felt it, caught in his eyelashes. He licked his lips and it tickled his tongue, and he found himself laughing.

The mischievous smile Eren wore prompted Levi to look and- Eren wasn’t holding him any longer.

He was flying.

Had he thought before about what flying would feel like, he’d have guessed it to be like swimming. Swimming didn’t compare at all. There wasn’t the pressure of water, pushing in on him from all sides. He wasn’t working to stay up, treading with weary limbs. Instead he was weightless.

Eren moved away and Levi instinctively followed, not stopping to think how to do it. He just did; his body moved where he wanted easily and naturally like this was how bodies were meant to travel.

The boy climbed up to the stars, eyes on Levi, and Levi kept his eyes on Eren in turn, captivated.

This time Levi took Eren’s hand when he reached out.

And then they were in space, a vast nothingness but full of light and color. Planets and moons swept by, then stars and galaxies and the Milky Way called out a greeting, which Eren answered with a cheerful whistle.

Eren lead him to two points of light set apart, somehow, from the others. He veered to the right and Levi wondered briefly what was on the left. They flew into the light and Levi was blinded and he laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last time I said I didn't have a plan, but already I do! I have a lot of it worked out and I'm very excited about it.  
> Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has commented and left kudos. You don't know what it means to me.


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